Letters From You
by Twisted Takes
Summary: "You've always had my back when it mattered most, and being witness to your growth as a kunoichi and as a person has reminded again and again that I love you immensely, and always will... But I've been able to see for a while now that I'll never truly have a place in your heart. Even so... thank you... thank you for everything, Sakura-chan... I guess this is goodbye." [Post-war]
1. Chapter 1

AN: I'm back, after a severe case of writer's block, but with new motivation comes new perspective. I've had the notes for this story burning a hole in my hard drive since early 2017, so I figured I'd put it down on a page and I'm quite satisfied with it as of now. I needed a break from Orange Flash since it's a serious beast of a story, and I noticed that the quality of my (currently unreleased) chapters was dropping off, so I had to scrap them. With that said, I'm using this story as a palate cleanser to get my ideas flowing again. As a whole, this story will be on the shorter side, and I'll update it as I come up with ideas. Anyway, let's get into it!

* * *

Naruto's eyes gradually opened and surveyed his surroundings. Konoha Hospital. He rose from his cot and looked down at his newly attached arm, it felt heavy and gave him little in terms of feedback. He couldn't even fully close his hand, but even so, he was glad the surgery went as planned. Otherwise he'd have woken up still short an arm.

He looked over to his left and saw Sasuke, still completely asleep. The Uchiha looked gaunt, drained from the constant phantom pains of his missing arm. Naruto briefly wondered why his friend would refuse a chance to be whole again, but soon deduced it was due in part to some dour reasoning associated with repentance… or something.

Having healed completely since their final bout at the Valley of the End, as well as being no worse for wear from the surgery, Naruto hopped out of the bed and walked over to a tray of medical tools.

Flexing his oddly-textured arm as much as he could, he moved to grab a large and unwieldy pair of forceps. His arm shook and twitched as the synthetic muscles crackled and popped. It just felt so heavy, like he had a boulder strapped to his wrist.

"It'll take a while for your nerve endings to grow back through the arm, it may even be painful…"

Naruto recognized the voice and let his arm fall to his side. Sakura.

His face went grim for a moment, but his back was to the door so she didn't see his expression. The boy took a breath and centered himself for a moment, after which, he put on his usual fanfare of smiles and sunshine.

"Hey Sakura-chan! Here to check on us?"

She smiled and nodded. "I am… though you seem to be walking around already. You've always been able to bounce back fast though. It's _him_ I'm more worried about…"

Naruto turned and saw Sasuke starting to shiver, the bandages on his left arm had bled through over night and now they were starting to turn a shade of maroon.

Sakura elaborated. "His arm was completely destroyed, unlike your injury, his went up to his shoulder socket. We had to amputate what remained, and now he's at risk for infection. That, and the constant blood loss isn't helping his immune system fight it."

Naruto did the math in his head, it had been just over three weeks since Team 7 returned to Konoha, so perhaps Sasuke's injuries were worse than he initially thought, since his stump hadn't even stopped bleeding yet.

Naruto plopped himself back onto his cot. "He'll be fine if you're taking care of him."

Reaching over to his nightstand, he slid a book into his lap and used his good arm to crack it open. A few minutes passed and Sakura broke the silence once more.

"Ya know, I've never seen you read anything before, Naruto. What kind of book could keep you still for more than a few minutes at a time?"

Naruto answered her without looking up from the pages. "Oh… It's… not a book. It's Ero-Sannin's journal… Obaa-chan gave it to me after she received all of his effects… she was the only other person listed in his will…"

Sakura's posture sunk. "I see… I suppose we never really had a chance to stop and take a... headcount. Are you going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine… I'm just… coming to terms with everything… every _ **one**_ …"

The pink-haired medic solemnly returned to Sasuke's wounds, and this time around, **_Naruto_** was the one watching _her_. Sakura's hands and eyes checked over the Uchiha's ailments with a love and care that Naruto himself had never received from her. He thought back to the last time they were all in a hospital room like this, the day he finally understood just how much Sakura loved his teammate… and how little her love meant to Sasuke in the face of their rivalry.

Having given up on the "why" long ago, he'd instead opted to just make sure she could be happy. Of course-over time; Naruto's motive for chasing Sasuke had become a different beast altogether, but he still respected the fact that his feelings for Sakura were the catalyst of the storm he'd been sailing through the past five years.

' _I've finally fulfilled my promise to you, but now… now I'm faced with a new challenge, letting go of you.'_

Naruto was snapped from his inner dialogue by the sound of Sakura's voice.

"Naruto?"

"Hn?"

Sakura remained focused on re-wrapping Sasuke's stump.

"I know there's a lot on your mind, but you've been awfully quiet lately. It worries me a lot… since you've always worn your emotions on your sleeve… It makes me think that you've been injured in other ways… ways that can't be fixed with bandages."

Naruto shut his eyes and smirked, musing to himself. _'Man, she can read me like a book sometimes… yet other times… she completely misunderstands me.'_

"It's not an _'invisible wound'_ , Sakura-chan… It's more like… a realization."

This was enough to cause her to turn from Sasuke fully and look Naruto in the eye.

"… Of what?"

Naruto peered down at the matching wedding rings attached to the lock on Jiraiya's journal, one of them with Tsunade's name etched into it.

He winced, wondering if Jiraiya's last thoughts were of the Hokage. "I'll… tell you when it stops hurting."

Sakura glared at Naruto. "Okay, you can't say something like that and expect me to leave it as is!"

Naruto shrugged. "You're just gonna have to trust me, now's not the time."

The girl sighed and finished her tending to Sasuke. "Fine. Just… make sure to keep moving that arm as much as you can and I'll be back later today… but if you need to see me before then, just… tell one of the ANBU outside... and Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"… Thank you... For everything…"

The blonde smiled and gave her thumbs up as she quietly shut the door. The smile died immediately after she was gone and morphed into a pensive stare, focused on the clouds outside the window.

' _There's always a fight somewhere in my life that I can't win… no matter how much I push myself… always one.'_

* * *

The following weeks saw Sasuke to a full recovery… all things considered. His balance was still off-kilter at times due to the missing arm. He always found himself drifting to the right whenever he moved more than a few feet.

A close call… He'd nearly fallen off the monument, due to his new weight distribution. Sasuke had gone there to meet Naruto, who he summoned earlier that day. The ANBU were close behind, with Tsunade having allowed him outside the compound on the condition that the ANBU were close-by at all times.

A few minutes passed as they waited for Naruto in silence, Sasuke looked out over Konoha's beauty during the night. Lanterns and lights everywhere, hundreds of thousands of people finally able to let loose after the war... to him... it was all just a prison.

Suddenly, Naruto's head peeped upward from below the crown of the 1st Hokage's head.

"What's goin' on Sasuke?"

Sasuke motioned for Naruto to walk with him, so he leapt into the air and landed next to the Uchiha.

"Naruto. I wanted to tell you this when the time was right, but it can't wait any more."

The blonde grimaced. "... Are you coming on to me?"

Sasuke moved to swat at Naruto's head, but nothing happened… for a moment he'd forgotten he didn't have a left arm.

"I'm not attracted to men."

Naruto grinned. "Could've fooled me. If that's the case there's gotta be _**someone**_ that makes your pants feel tighter."

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Just let me talk, this is important and I only have a few minutes before those guys drag me back to the compound."

He motioned toward the impatient looking ANBU.

"Alright Sasuke, shoot."

Sasuke turned to look at Konoha once more and paused, causing Naruto's stomach to start churning.

"... I can't stay here."

Naruto sputtered. "Wh-What?! Come on man, we just brought you home!"

He sighed and reached his hand out toward the city lights. "I know that… but I also remember what this village did to my people… my family."

Naruto's heart sank. "B-but… we can… there's gotta be a way to make this right! I know! I can bring you to talk with Obaa-chan and we can-"

Sasuke's fist clenched. "I _**HATE**_ it here! … _and now I'm trapped_."

The blonde's voice trailed off, leaving them in silence.

"I came back because I _**wanted**_ to, but now I know… This place… I just feel wrong. The compound? It feels like I'm sleeping in their blood… and the nightmares? They came back... I seize up whenever I try to set foot in my old house, and in the night, I hear their damned voices taunting me! Like I could've done something to save them that night! ...I ...I can't do this any longer than I have to… When my probation's up, I need to leave… for good."

Sasuke looked to his left and realized that Naruto was on the ground clutching his head… he was trying not to cry... and failing.

" _I'm sorry... FUCK! This isn't what I meant to- GOD DAMMIT! This whole time... I was only thinking about myself and not what was best for you. Of course this blows up in my face. What's the point of achieving something if it all goes to shit?!"_

The Uchiha walked around Naruto and knelt down, placing his hand on his friend's soldier.

"Don't blame yourself. Like I said, I wanted to see for myself if I could return to life as I knew it… It's just… not working like I thought it would."

Naruto took a deep breath before speaking. "But what do we do? It's almost like nothing I've done over the last 5 years even matters…"

Suddenly, Naruto felt a soft thump on the top of his head. "How do you think I felt after I killed Itachi? Stop crying and stand up. You've gotta be tougher than this if you want to be the Hokage."

Naruto shot up and glared at Sasuke, still pouting. "Hey man! You don't know what I went through to get you back here, and now you're telling me you hate it here?! Just gimme a minute!"

"I don't have a minute, Naruto. There was something else I wanted to ask you about."

The blonde sniffled. "What's that?"

"The Cycle of Hatred… and how we stop it."

Naruto was reminded of his vow to the late Akatsuki leader. "I've been thinking about that myself, but my idea of a first step would've involved you being here… with us."

Sasuke put his hand on his hip and looked down at the city lights. "Well, that's off the table now..."

"… I guess so… You don't have to be here if you don't want to, it defeats the point of bringing you home."

Sasuke tried to cross his arm(s), but it felt awkward, so he instead opted to stuff his hand in one of his pockets.

"I don't have much hate left in my body, but I just can't stay here. So in light of that, I'll ask to be formally discharged… being a shinobi... it's lost meaning to me… Honestly, I think the shinobi system itself is the root cause of this world's trend toward violence. I mean, look at the peace we're in now… Even with the Akatsuki gone, we're one misunderstanding away from a 5th war."

Naruto nodded. "You're right… I've been researching the powers granted to the office of Hokage and based on what I've found, I can make some serious headway when I make it there."

"Good. I just want you to understand that I can't do much while I'm here, and that destroying this cycle… It's my _**new**_ ambition… Hopefully it'll carry me further than my last one…"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Sasuke. "On the war-path again i see? Right then… What'll you tell Sakura-chan? She's in love with you, and I'm not sure how she'll react to you leaving a second time…"

Sasuke looked down. "I think that it'd be for the best if _you_ were the one who told her… after I'm gone."

Naruto sputtered again. "Wait what?! Tell her yourself!"

"No. She'll try to come with me if I do. Where I'm going… she shouldn't follow..."

"Dammit Sasuke! You need to think of other peop-... Wait, no that's exactly what you're doing, aren't you? Just… don't hurt her any more than you already have..."

Sasuke sighed and made his way toward the ANBU. "I'm… afraid that's off the table as well… I'll finish my probation out of respect for what you went through to achieve all this... but beyond that, I can't promise anything else."

Sasuke turned to leave, uttering one last prod to fire Naruto up. "And don't sit out here moping all night in the cold, you'll get sick!"

Naruto pouted and sniffled as he shook his fist at his teammate. "I'll mope where I damn well please! Damn Uchiha... goin' around dropping bombs like that outta nowhere..."

"Sorry for being... honest?" Sasuke awkwardly fidgeted in place before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves along with the ANBU agents.

There was a short pause and Naruto placed his head in his hands.

' _Just can't win...'_

* * *

Again, more weeks passed, but this time, with Naruto having to carry the burden of keeping a secret from Sakura and Kakashi. To keep himself from imploding, he'd taken to interning with Tsunade to learn about the more political aspects of being Hokage. While Naruto wasn't one for politics, Tsunade made it a point to teach Naruto in a way that would keep him engaged.

The lessons were framed as learning practical skills, one of which involved negotiating. The trick involved learning how to read someone, and in turn, figuring out what they wanted. Once you knew, you could bend them toward fulfilling your own goals by offering them something that would in turn force them to at least meet you half way in the negotiation.

… That was the lesson about a week ago. Today… it was just paperwork, though in this case, Naruto was uniquely suited for the task of assisting the Hokage with the forms, despite the its monotony…

Several shadow clones were sorting completed papers and yet-to-be-signed ones into various piles based on form type, Naruto and Tsunade even seemed to have gotten a system going, one that could potentially shave several hours off of a standard work day.

Suddenly, the office door swung open, revealing Shizune, who was carrying another stack of paperwork that looked to have piled up in the weeks following the war. Tsunade groaned and pointed to the crowd of Narutos signing and sorting paper, Shizune then walked forward to hand the forms to Naruto. This revealed that Sakura was standing just behind her. She sheepishly hovered into the room to ask if they should wait to go over the medical forms from the hospital, but she trailed off when she locked eyes with Naruto.

Sakura immediately tore across the room and weaved between the shadow clones to reach the real one. For some reason, she could always tell the difference, and this occaision was no different. She wrapped Naruto up into a bear hug, to the point of lifting him off the ground.

Sakura released the hug and looked up at her teammate. "Hey, Naruto! I haven't seen you in over two weeks! How's your arm doing?"

Naruto simply smiled and took the medical forms from Sakura using his prosthetic arm. "Just fine. I've… just been busy."

He promptly returned to the couch and began sorting the forms Sakura had given him, prompting her to cross her arms and frown.

"Naruto."

"Yup?"

"Where've you been? We've been meeting at Ichiraku's, but it's not the same without you."

Tsunade saw his posture shrink into the couch and even caught a glint in Naruto's eye… a tear?

The Hokage piped in, trying to take some of the heat off of Naruto. "He's not avoiding you, I've just been running him into the ground lately."

Sakura crossed her arms and observed the shadow clones, still at work. "Not with _**this**_ system you have. You've probably cut your workday in half, haven't you? … And wouldn't I have noticed that you were interning with Tsunade-sama? I stop by here all the time!"

Naruto sighed and rose from the couch, he walked out of the room with Sakura hot on his heels.

"Where're you going?! Naruto!"

The blonde abruptly swung around, causing Sakura to bop him in the chest with her forehead. She took a few steps back and glared up at her teammate, but her glare softened when she saw his face. Blank, like an empty canvas.

"What's going on with you, Naruto? You've been avoiding Team 7 for weeks even though you fought so hard to reunite us!"

Naruto stared at a spot on the wall off to the side. "Sorry… it's just… there's a lot going on that you can't see right now."

The gears in Sakura's head whirred to life as she picked apart Naruto's words… _'can't see'.._. _**'stops hurting'**_ … in that instant a potential explanation dawned on her.

She shifted nervously. "Sasuke-kun… he talks to you a lot more than Kakashi-sensei and I… doesn't he?"

Naruto, never one for underestimating Sakura's intelligence opted to attempt to steer the subject away from the topic of conversation.

"Yeah he does… I should get back to work."

Naruto attemped to walk around Sakura, but she crossed her arms and moved to block his path.

She glared upward, sure of herself. "There's more to it than that."

Naruto scratched his temple before coming up with an idea. "Hmmm… I can tell Sasuke to open up to you, if that's what you want. Meet him at Ichiraku's tonight, I'll make sure he shows up so you two can hang out."

The blonde was startled when she flicked him on the nose. Hard. "Don't be stupid! I want you to come too! … I mean... I don't want to force you to come see us, but I'm at the end of my rope here!"

Naruto silently nodded, and with that, Sakura nodded in reply before turning to go down the stairs.

'... _But you are… Sakura-chan…'_

* * *

Sakura sat at Ichiraku's tapping her foot at a rapid pace, loudly enough for Teuchi to hear. He smirked, raising an eyebrow at the pink-haired girl before him.

"Excited to see Sasuke again?"

The tapping stopped. "Huh? Well… yes! Of course! … But Naruto's supposed to come too. It's been a while since we've all been here together!"

Teuchi raised an eyebrow. "Hm… Naruto's still been coming here pretty frequently with the Hyuga Princess. Maybe your schedules just don't line up like they used to."

Sakura's eyes narrowed in confusion. "He has? … Oh right, Hinata likes him... Everyone likes him..."

Suddenly there was a loud thumping sounds outside the stand and the two boys slid the curtains open. Naruto had Sasuke in a headlock, and Sasuke was visibly disheveled, looking as if he were dragged away from his favorite toy. Though funnily enough, he showed no attempt to resist Naruto… _this was due in part to only having one arm to work with._

The boys sat down on either side of Sakura and simultaneously gave their orders; they both wanted the same thing, though Naruto wanted several bowls for himself. Sakura sputtered and ordered her ramen shortly afterward and Teuchi went in the back to gather ingredients.

There was a long silence, nearly a minute before Naruto stifled a laugh. "Wow, is this how things go when I'm not here? Does no one have anything to say?"

Sakura glared at Naruto, while Sasuke absentmindedly spun some chopsticks between his fingers.

The girl pouted. "Well I don't know where to start! We haven't been together like this since the hospital, and back then I was trying to keep Sasuke-kun from dying of blood loss!"

Naruto's laugh died down. "Oh, right. Well, I guess I'll start then... Sakura-chan already knows what I've been doing lately, but it never came up with you and me, Sasuke… I've been working with Obaa-chan and learning the less… _**punchy**_ bits of being Hokage."

Sasuke nodded in approval. "Hn. That's… good… useful."

The blonde smirked. "Tip for you Sakura-chan, if Sasuke says something's good, that means it's awesome."

Sakura looked at Naruto, then at Sasuke, visibly intrigued at how easily the two boys were able to understand each other. She opted to push the topic in Sasuke's direction.

"Since we're talking about it, what have you been doing lately, Sasuke-kun? … Besides _**'sitting'**_ as you say..."

Sasuke looked at Sakura for a moment before returning his attention to his chopsticks.

"… I have a garden."

Sakura smiled. "That's really nice. What do you grow there?"

"Tomatoes... Just tomatoes."

"Oh… why just tomatoes?"

Sasuke looked at Sakura once more, before turning to the clock. "They remind me of my… family…"

Sakura sputtered. "… O-oh. I'm sorry."

A dark cloud imposed itself over the conversation as Naruto sat there observing them, completely horrified.

' _Man, talk about a buzzkill... I thought Sakura-chan would've really taken advantage of her time alone with Sasuke, but if this is what it's like… Man, I thought I was just being cynical but I really might be the only thing holding this team together...'_

Naruto tapped Sakura on the shoulder. "Hey, Sakura-chan. Ask Sasuke about his plans for the future."

Her attention shifted back and forth between the two boys for a moment before taking Naruto's advice and running with it.

"Um… Sasuke-kun, what are your plans for the future?"

Sasuke's eyes swiveled toward Sakura for a moment before he closed them and smirked almost chuckling to himself.

"What would you do without him, Sakura? … _The Cycle of Hatred_ … It's something I plan on destroying one day, with Naruto's help of course… It's the reason my life took the turn it did. It's not a physical thing, but more of a philosophy explaining the state of our world. Even the Akatsuki were trying to break it in their own way, though I disapprove of their methods…"

Sakura's eyes sparkled, having accomplished her goal of getting Sasuke to speak more than a single sentence.

She clutched her cup of tea. "G-go on."

Sasuke continued. "When I was with the Akatsuki, they told me that no matter what progress the world made, it always devolved into war and would set us back decades in terms of progress. There's a short peace, and then the cycle of war repeats… They opted to police the world by collecting The 9 Bijuu, but I have my own theory about why this happens... It's our shinobi system that's fundamentally broken… The details of that are a bit of a chore to get into right now, but with Naruto at the helm of the most powerful military in the world, I think we can push things in a more stable direction. That's all I'll say for now."

Naruto piped in as well. "Yeah. There's not much we can do at the moment since we're not in any position to make meaningful and lasting changes… So for now… We wait!"

Sasuke echoed the thought. "We wait."

There was a long pause as Sakura's mind raced, trying to figure out what to say next.

Naruto rolled his eyes as the silence grew. "Oi, Sakura-chan. Ask Sasuke about the kitten that follows him around the Uchiha compound."

She gave Naruto a confused look before turning to Sasuke. "You have a cat?"

Sasuke nodded. "I guess... I named her Mikoto, after my mother... She'd been living in the compound for about a month, and I caught her in my garden one night trying to steal my tomatoes. We weren't too fond of each other but it got really cold one night so I went and found her to bring her inside. Ever since, she's been living with me… For whatever reason she wasn't afraid of me… unlike people… most people. You two and Kakashi are the exception, but I'll admit that I'm not really on speaking terms with him yet..."

Sakura's mind felt like it had been scrambled. The thought of Sasuke taking care of a pet, a tiny kitten nonetheless was quite jarring.

Sasuke's voice suddenly pierced the silence. "You know, I would have just hung out with Naruto if this was going to be the case… Why don't _**you**_ talk for a bit, Sakura?"

Naruto, with a sly grin on his face, piped in again. " _psssst,_ Sakura-chan. Ask him about that time a researcher in Otogakure caught his eye and they-"

"He made that one up."

Sakura's mind felt like it had jammed up. "I mean… it's nowhere near as interesting as what you two have been up to. I just help Shizune run the Konoha Hospital."

Naruto gave her a nudge in the right direction. "There's gotta be some kind of story where you went into _'Big-Brain Sakura Mode'_ and saved someone the doctors thought was a goner!"

" _Big Brain Saku_ -? … Oh! There was this one time I managed to create my own surgery for someone who'd been stabbed in the heart! See, if the patient is in a stable condition, I could remove the foreign material and repair the heart enough to keep them from dying immediately afterward!"

The blonde smiled, spinning Sakura 180 degrees on her barstool while simultaneously gesturing to Sasuke.

"Tell _him_ about it."

Sakura turned to her other teammate and enthusiastically recounted her experience while Teuchi returned with their food. Naruto suddenly wasn't very hungry though. He instead watched Sakura fully pour herself into her effort to keep the story interesting to Sasuke. The light blush on her face combined with the sparkle of her sea foam green eyes gave her a radiant quality… the kind of you see from someone talking about something that they love... to someone that they love. Naruto smiled taking in her beauty amid the red lanterns of Teuchi's restaurant, but that smile... it was a bitter one... a smile that signaled surrender.

Perhaps Neji was right about fate, just as he died protecting a main branch member, just as Sasuke and himself fit neatly between the lines of an age old prophecy... perhaps Sakura's heart would always be tied to Sasuke, regardless of time and space.

Naruto's thoughts flowed freely, so freely in fact that it could have been mistaken for outside forces if not for the content of said thoughts.

' _You've always had my back when it mattered most, and being witness to your growth as a kunoichi has pushed me to heights I'd never thought I could achieve... I love you immensely, and always will, but I've been able to see for a while now that I'll never truly have a place in your heart… All I want now, is for you to be happy... I guess this is the end of the line... for us...'_

Naruto exhaled, quietly internalizing these notions, but not before taking one last gander at Sakura and slipping out of the ramen stand. However, he barely got 20 feet away from the stand before he heard her call out to him.

"W-wait, Naruto! Where're you going? You didn't even eat your food!"

He gave her a warm smile. "I've got an early day at the tower tomorrow, so I need to go get some rest."

Sakura looked down at her watch and crinkled her nose. "It's only 6:45! We haven't been together in weeks! Just a little longer? For me?"

Sasuke also came out into the street, visibly worried. "Sakura, If he wants to go, let him."

Her shoulders dipped and her posture hunched forward, relenting to the situation. "Well… Will you be able to hang out with us again soon, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled a bit. "Yeah… Just try and enjoy your date, okay?"

"D-date? Naruto! That's not wha-… Huh?"

Sakura trailed off. Naruto had disappeared almost instantly; in the time it took her to blink. One moment he was there, another moment, gone. She turned to Sasuke, who had a concerned frown as he stared in the direction Naruto was originally in.

"Hey Sakura. Let's shelve this for now... I gotta talk to him."

She pouted. "Wha-? Um… okay… I'll see you later I… guess?"

Sasuke had also disappeared mid sentence. She looked around for a spell and eventually saw him off in the distance hopping from roof to roof, his ANBU detail shadowing him.

Sakura sniffled, trying to hold back her tears, but she was never all that good at stopping herself from crying. They flowed freely, much like Naruto's own thoughts just moments ago.

"You two... you never tell me anything..."

* * *

After about 20 minutes of searching, Sasuke had managed to find Naruto in their old training ground. He was sitting in a tree feeding a squirrel some acorns. The moment Sasuke approached the tree, the small animal hissed at him and skittered off, prompting Naruto to look down at the last remaining Uchiha.

"Why aren't you with Sakura-chan? She's probably crying now because you ditched her!"

Sasuke glared up at the blonde. "She'll understand... besides, she wants something that I can't provide for her."

Naruto glared down at his teammate. "Bullshit! Just hold her hand and walk with her or something! It's not that hard!"

Sasuke countered. "I can't… Not in good faith."

The blonde grabbed the bridge of his nose. "She's the only woman in the entire world that's not scared shitless of you! If you're not gay, then what's stopping you?"

"I can't love her that way. Also, I've got more important things to worry about. If I'm going to break the Cycle of Hatred, I need you here. At the top… Not moping around over your girlfriend."

Naruto groaned. "If anything, she's _**your**_ girlfriend. She loves _**YOU**_! I mean, what's not to like? She's smart, beautiful, and she's got a big butt-"

Sasuke facepalmed and cut the blonde off mid sentence.

"You're completely missing the point of this conversation! I need you unburdened, and given the fact that you never let anything go... I fear this will weigh on you for the rest of your life. Sort out your feelings for Sakura, and either convince her to love you back, or lay these feelings to rest. This next part of our journey is going to cost us a piece of ourselves, so I need you as _**whole**_ as possible when it begins."

Naruto sputtered. "You and your one-track mind… Fine. I'll figure out what I need to do."

"You'd best be ready. When my probationary period ends, I'm going to get to work… With… or _**Without**_ you."

The finality of Sasuke's _"Without"_ made Naruto's stomach churn. In that moment, Naruto just knew that Sasuke would lose himself to his own ambition once more if he wasn't there to be a guiding light for his friend.

"I'll be ready Sasuke. No matter what…"

"Good. I need someone around that can kill me if I lose myself again. I'll hold you to that."

Naruto looked down at Sasuke, now he was the one that was visibly worried. Sasuke stared back for a moment before nodding and darting off into the sky with his ANBU detail.

"Sakura-chan... I hope you can forgive us one day."

* * *

Naruto's day at the tower was marred with silence. He sat with Tsunade as they went through paperwork, and in spite of the various elephants in the room, they pressed on, burying themselves in their work. Unable to bear the silence any longer, Naruto dispelled his shadow clones and got the Hokage's attention.

"Hey… Obaa-chan?"

"… Yes Naruto?"

"Why… didn't you give Ero-Sannin a chance? You read his journal before you gave it to me… so you must know how he felt about y-... Sorry, forget I asked, that's a bad question to-"

Tsunade cut him off. "I was afraid… Of losing him too that is…"

Naruto frowned. "I'm afraid of a lot of things, but if I came across an opportunity to be happy… even for just a little while… I'd take it without question."

The Hokage sighed. "That's why I think you'll do great things for this village. You're brave, Naruto… braver than I ever was… In hindsight? … Yes, I wish I'd have let myself be happy with him for what little time we had left together, but I suppose our duties took precedence over our happiness... What brought this on, Naruto? … Is this about Sakura?"

Naruto grimaced and created some more shadow clones. "L-lets just get back to work, yeah?"

"I'm here to talk whenever you're ready…"

He nodded and rose to his feet, placing himself on the windowsill to sort completed forms into piles. "I know… I'm just not in the right state of mind right now."

"I understand... just don't let it fester too long."

"I don't have a choice to..."

Ten minutes of silence (save for the scratching of pens and pencils) passed when suddenly; there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Tsunade droned absentmindedly.

The door creaked open, revealing Sakura and Shizune. Sakura had some files while Shizune had a pot of tea and a few cups. Sakura clutched the files, hiding the lower half of her face when she saw Naruto sitting on the windowsill; his expression was dark and foreboding. The Hokage's eyes swiveled back and forth between Naruto and Sakura for a moment, but Naruto seemed to be trapped inside his own head.

"Naruto. You have a visitor."

Sakura began to protest the nature of her visit, but was cut off by the serious look on Tsunade's face. Naruto remained focused on the clouds outside the window, giving Sakura a tiny wave.

"... Sakura-chan."

The pinkette slammed her files on the ground and stomped over to the window, lifting Naruto off of it by the front of his shirt.

"THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?! YOU BAILED ON US, THE ONE TIME WE WERE ABLE TO HANG OUT AS A TEAM! WHAT'S GOING ON NARUTO?!"

Naruto's blank expression belied a torrent of anguish. "You really can't feel it, Sakura-chan? Team 7 is on borrowed time… it always was..."

Sakura growled. "Because YOU keep hiding from us! There's no Team 7 without you!"

The blonde sighed, the coldness in his voice pulling the wind from her sails. "You're the one who's hiding… hiding from the truth."

She slowly lowered Naruto to the ground, questioning if she'd missed something, wondering if her frustration was misplaced. She tried to say something but the words wouldn't come. She turned, completely stunned by the drastic shift in Naruto's demeanor, but also the fact that it felt as if Naruto was right.

She sauntered out of the room, leaving Shizune and Tsunade staring on in horror.

"Naruto... Why did you say that?" The Hokage inquired.

"I can't lie to her anymore, Obaa-chan."

"Then don't. Go, now."

Naruto peered out the window and saw her storming through the streets, the crowd parting like the Red Sea, lest they face the wrath of the Hokage's apprentice. He leapt from the window and to the nearest rooftop, opting to avoid causing a scene in the middle of the street; Naruto instead tailed Sakura to her house so they could talk there. The trip shed light on the depths of Sakura's pain concerning the current state of their Team. She'd only been angry for the first 30 seconds of her trek back toward her house.

As the crowds thinned, her pace slowed and her posture dipped. It progressed from the occasional wipe of the eye at a steady walking pace, to full on stopping to cry for minutes at a time. The trip took a total of 10 minutes longer than it should have, with Sakura struggling to put her key into her door, likely struggling to see through her tears. At this point, Naruto had had enough and he jumped down and landed next to her, he steadied her hand and placed the key into the doorknob before turning it. She wiped her eyes and made eye-contact with Naruto, her downtrodden expression turned to one of anger before she swiftly lifted him over her head and tossed him across the street and over a bakery.

Naruto sighed mid-air and flipped, landing on his feet in the middle the street parallel to the one Sakura lived on. Less than 15 seconds later, Naruto landed on Sakura's porch and knocked. There was a pause, Sakura was likely looking at him through the peephole, so he decided to entice her to open the door.

"Sakura-chan. I wanna apologize about what I said... but it was my honest assessment. Lemme explain."

Her muffled voice came through the door. "Why? I heard you the 1st time. If you think Team 7 is dead, then just leave us alone…"

"I didn't say that!"

He heard her footsteps move away from the door, so he turned around and sat on the porch, thinking of what he was going to say. On the other side of the door, Sakura was doing the same, only in her case she was sitting on her couch. Thinking back over the few times they'd all been together since they were released from the hospital… perhaps Naruto had a point.

Her brow furrowed as she began to see a pattern forming in Team 7's meetings. When Naruto _did_ show up, things went as they usually did, much like in their childhood. However, there was a distinct difference between the experiences associated with the two time periods. Nowadays, Naruto made it a point to try and get Sasuke to open up to Sakura, but all progress ground to a halt the moment the blonde left to pursue his other endeavors. After which, Sasuke and Sakura would sit in silence… and on the few occasions they did talk at length, it almost always pertained to Naruto and what he was doing.

From what Sakura could gather, Sasuke was trying to make up for lost time by piecing together a narrative of what his team was doing while he was gone. This in turn led to them talking mostly about Naruto, since Sakura's most interesting experiences happened to occur when she was tagging along with her blonde teammate.

She was shaken from her thoughts when another knock on her door echoed through her tiny little house.

"Sakura-chan. You know I'll stand out here until I starve, right?"

She wiped her eyes once more before finally deciding to open the door for Naruto. There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other, both of them attempting to read the intentions of the other.

"Say your piece Naruto... and make it quick."

The boy shifted back and forth, unsure of himself for the first time in ages. "I can't."

Sakura crossed her arms. "Why not? You were pretty curt with me back at the tower."

"Because… I… have a confession to make."

* * *

AN: Leave a review and tell me what you think! Should I make this canon-friendly or actually go in another direction? The second chapter of this story will be the very next thing that you get from me. I always thought that Naruto and Sakura's relationship never really got any closure in both the anime and the manga, so I (and many other people on the site, this particular story is pretty common on FF) wanted to give my own take on what I think would happen.

As for Orange Flash, I'm considering releasing chapters in spurts instead of as I finish them. That story has pacing issues and I need to make sure I stay on schedule or it'll drag on forever. However, I am getting an outline together, since my original plan for the story was adding up to a ridiculous 120 chapters. I wanna keep it below 100 so people can actually finish it. Anyway, until next time!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Ya boi is back with more _'Letters From You'_. My angsty take on the nature of Naruto and Sakura's relationship. I wanna thank you all for your responses to the first chapter, since I wasn't sure how it would do, but people seem to like it. With that in mind, I'm taking your reviews into account as I write this story, so please make sure you give feedback if you have any. Let me know, too angsty? too happy? (lol I doubt that) Does someone seem a bit out of character? Just keep that in mind as you read. Alright then... let's go.

* * *

Naruto and Sakura sat on the couch in anticipation… One was waiting for the other to speak... the other… Well... he was trying to figure out where to start. He sighed, lamenting his lack of preparation for this moment.

"Sorry… I kinda chose to do this today on a whim, so I haven't exactly put in much thought… But I uh… I guess it's better this way?"

Sakura inhaled, very slowly. Could this be what she thought it was? … No. No way! Naruto was over her! But still… she had to at least hear him out first.

"I suppose… Go ahead, Naruto."

He sighed. "Alright then… So, you probably wanna know why I've been so distant… Just promise you'll lemme finish before you say anything… Okay?"

She nodded slowly; Naruto could see that she was visibly nervous.

"Good… I uh, I assume you already know most of this part, but bear with me, it's important… When we were kids, I had a crush on you, and for quite a while, that's all it was. It was more or less the same until I… _oh man_."

Naruto paused and started biting his nail.

Sakura's brow furrowed with curiosity. "Until you…"

"R-remember when you tried to kiss Sasuke? And he ran away… Right after Team 7 was formed?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Were you spying on us?"

Naruto. "No… Up until that point, your _'Sasuke'_ was _**me..**_. I was trying to figure out what you thought of _'Naruto'_ at the time… so I used henge to impersonate Sasuke."

Sakura's stomach flipped and she instinctively clutched the nearest pillow and held it in front of the lower half of her face.

"Wha-… No! No! That was-… You can't be serious!"

Naruto, feeling guilty, stared down at the coffee table.

"Sorry to drop that on you like that, but this next bit is important… I actually could've done that on multiple other occasions, but quickly realized that I wanted to get to know you as 'Naruto'… As _myself_ … See, I gave it some thought after that first time… You really seemed to like Sasuke, so what if you found out that it was all a lie? Would you hate me for it? The thought of that… it terrified me, and I'm not afraid of anything… Except for you hating me apparently."

Naruto stared up at the ceiling during a short pause before resuming his story.

"I wondered; _'why?'._ As far as I knew, you were just a girl that happened to catch my eye, and even then… you loved Sasuke, not me. The thought of being with you was a distant fantasy as far as I was concerned… That was… until the final part of the Chunin Exams, when Suna attacked. Remember when we fought Gaara? He had you pinned against that tree and I… I felt it, that same overwhelming fear of losing you… Though in that case, it would have been forever. I knew I had to save you, even at the cost of my own life… and in that moment, I was the strongest I'd ever been. However, in the aftermath of that battle… I had to carry with me the realization that I'd… fallen in love with you... and that you would likely never feel the same way..."

Sakura's head shook. "W-wait no! B-but Naruto… you said-… you said… oh no…"

"Said what?"

She obsessively ran her hands through her hair, mussing it even more than it already was.

"You said that you hated people who lie to themselves! I thought… I thought you were chasing Sasuke-kun because you had feelings for me… b-but I was wrong! I was… Wasn't I?"

Naruto looked at Sakura for a moment before looking down at his lap.

"No, Sakura-chan... you were dead-on, just a little... out of date… Yeah, at first I made that promise to you because I wanted you to be happy, but by the time we were in the Land of Iron, I'd had my own reasons for chasing after him… It wasn't just about you at that point."

Sakura inquired toward the current status of Naruto's feelings.

"Y-you've been speaking in the past-tense… So I take it that you no lon-"

Naruto cut her off, refusing to leave anything up to interpretation.

"That day, you told me you loved me… but I rejected your confession because I didn't believe you… If I could be happy, for even just one day, I'd jump at the chance, but it'd have to be real… that's why. Still… _**that doesn't mean that my feelings have changed since I made you that promise**_..."

Sakura felt her breathing slow to a crawl as the couch they were sitting on began to feel smaller and smaller.

"Actually, I'd say they've grown with time… but I've known for years that the only person that can make you happy is Sasuke. Even so, I'd like to say things on my own terms. Leave everything on the table, ya know?"

She sputtered; trying to find words... time began to slow as his eyes and his words echoed pierced her soul with raw, unprocessed truth.

Naruto took a deep breath.

" _ **I love you, Sakura-chan.**_ It's like a fire in my chest, it kept me warm when I needed it most… but now… it's… _**it's starting to burn**_. I've been avoiding you… I'll admit it, but you gotta understand that I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that one day… _you'll leave me too_ …"

Sakura started to tear up, thinking back to what he had said that day in the hospital. For someone like Naruto, who has so little, losing someone was probably twice as painful.

Sakura tried to plug the leak in the proverbial dam with words of comfort. "Naruto… I'd never leave you. Not after everything we've been through!"

The boy looked at her, his eyes sharp yet understanding. "I appreciate the thought, but we both know that we can't stay like this forever. You love Sasuke, don't you? Maybe he'll warm up to you one day… and at that point… There's no room for me in the equation."

There was another long pause before Naruto decided to stand up to leave, he could see that Sakura was stumped, so he decided to leave her with her thoughts for the time being.

"I just thought that you should know the truth… I can't stand lying to you anymore… Well, I should go, thanks for hearing me out… _Sakura-chan._ "

Naruto turned to leave, but stopped when he heard her stutter for a moment, she was obviously trying to find words for the situation.

"Naruto wait… You're important to me as well… but I just-…"

He turned and smiled a tiny bit, but this smile was broken, a smile of surrender.

"I know… I've never once doubted your care for me… but _you just don't see me the way that I… I see you…_ "

Naruto faced the door and waited for a final reply giving her a chance to prove him wrong, but nothing else came, so he turned the doorknob, but not before taking one last moment to look Sakura in the eye. She was crying.

Naruto sighed and turned, fully exiting the house. This left Sakura sitting there in stunned silence. She tried to stand up, but stumbled with indecision. She was going to go after him for a moment, but the primal fear of making things worse paralyzed her feet… so she stood there, staring at the door… just as powerless as she was when Sasuke left.

Even more tears began to flow. " _Naruto_ … I'm so sorry…"

* * *

The next day was difficult. Walking away from Sakura like that… It was an understatement to say that Naruto had trouble sleeping that previous night after he'd finally gotten home. Once he left Sakura's apartment, he felt lighter, almost as if a great burden had been taken from his shoulders, however, that freedom came at a cost.

Emptiness… raw, unfiltered emptiness.

"Naruto-kun?"

Naruto was pulled from his inner thoughts and spun on the barstool to face the source of the call… Hinata.

He chirped and gestured for her to come sit down. "Oh, you got here, earlier than I thought you would!"

Hinata interlocked her fingers behind her back. "I was running errands nearby, so I figured I would see if you were here… You know, this much ramen can't be that healthy, Naruto-kun. The sodium…"

Naruto pouted, punctuating his boast with a flex. "Hey! I grew up on this stuff! Look how big I got!"

The girl blushed, though not in embarrassment, she didn't particularly enjoy deflating what little ego Naruto possessed, but lying just wasn't in her blood.

"I suppose? Though… uhm… j-just keep in mind that I was quite a bit taller than you when we started at the academy… I suggested you… _diversify_ your diet... a bit."

The blonde's bravado collapsed like a shoddy hut. "R-right… but this is the first time in a while though… that I've eaten here, I mean."

Hinata nodded and climbed onto the stool. "Oh, alright then. I'm just watching out for your health."

There was a long pause, broken by Hinata's uncharacteristically serious tone-of-voice.

"So. Naruto-kun. Were you able to tell her how you've been feeling all these years?"

Naruto looked down at the counter. "Straight down to business today, huh? Yeah… I did."

Silence. Naruto took that as a prompt to elaborate. "It uh… yeah, it went just as you predicted... though to be honest I wasn't expecting any different myself."

Hinata thought for a moment. "What exactly did you say to her, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nervously chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "I uh… I started with the bit about me almost stealing her first kiss… It _really_ threw her off… in hindsight, I'm thinking I should follow-up with her on that, but I don't really know where I'd start with her... It didn't end on a sour note, but it had a sort of finality to it."

Hinata frowned at Naruto, startling him. "Naruto-kun, you shouldn't have brought that up! It sounded important when you told _**me,**_ so Sakura-san may be stuck on it…"

Naruto's expression went grim. "I could, but I don't really see the benefit of it at this point… besides… seeing her… it just hurts."

She sighed, taking in the sound of the boiling water behind the counter. "Naruto-kun? I think you should take some time to yourself for a while; hold off on meeting her again until you absolutely can't wait any longer. Sakura is likely having the same problem based on what you've said."

He took this into consideration, but not before squeezing Hinata's hand. Standing up in a hurry, he appeared to have a bit more purpose in his movements than just moments before.

"You're probably right... Um… sorry to bail on you all of a sudden, but I think I know what I need to do now… I'll tell you about it next time we meet… If you want anything just use my tab."

She blushed. "Oh… of course! I'll see you then Naru-… gone again."

Just then, Teuchi came out from the back with six bowls of ramen, he looked around for Naruto, who was nowhere to be found.

"He run off again, princess?"

Hinata nodded with a sigh, she pointed toward the tray of ramen. "I suppose I can take… one of those."

"Here ya go… Ah don't worry, he'll fall for you once he sorts his feelings out."

The girl smiled. "That would be nice, but it's not necessarily what I want for him. I'd… I'd much rather he be happy."

Teuchi smiled. "… He's lucky to have friends like you."

She nodded looking off toward the Hokage's tower. "I think that we're lucky to have _him_."

* * *

Just a few miles west, in Konoha park Sakura sat on a bench, the very bench Sasuke had left her on all those years ago. At the moment, she was having a similar conversation with her newly acquired confidant.

"Sai?"

He gave her that odd smile of his and replied. "I'm still waiting for you to tell me why I'm here, you can begin whenever you want."

"Right… you seem to understand Naruto pretty well, and I can't exactly talk to Sasuke about this, so here it goes… Remember the Land of Iron? … When we all had that… misunderstanding?"

Sai's smile disappeared. "Ah… of course… I'd like to formally apologize for accusing you of such things, I suppose I misread your relationship with Naruto."

Sakura looked away, grimacing. "No, that's just it… you were right. See, he confessed his feelings to me yesterday."

Sai, eyes forward, laced his fingers in front of his mouth. "Hn… and I assume you rejected him?"

There was a long pause.

"… I... suppose I did."

Sai raised an eyebrow. "You suppose?"

Sakura again ran her fingers through her hair in an obsessive manner. "Well, he told me something else, something that… gives me pause."

Sai smiled again. "And what would that be?"

She shivered despite wearing her coat. "One day, I was sitting on a bench, and out of nowhere, Sasuke came over to me and complimented my forehead… saying that he liked it… At the time, my forehead was one of the few things I was deeply insecure about… You may never understand how much that meant to me, but it was just what I needed… The thing is… that wasn't Sasuke… it was Naruto."

"Why does it matter who it was that told you? I would assume that a compliment of that nature from anyone would be noteworthy."

"Because Sai… that was the moment I truly fell for… ' _Sasuke_ '…"

Sai nodded, taking this information in. "How unfortunate… So how can I help?"

"I need you to talk to Sasuke-kun for me… I just need to be sure… Ask him what he remembers about… um… Just tell him it was the first time he'd called me _'annoying'._ I think he'll understand what you're talking about...

"Can you not ask him yourself, Sakura?"

She shook her head. "It's probably for the best that I don't. There's a rift forming within Team 7, and while you're technically one of it's members, you're probably the only one who can do this right now… see, I don't want to make things worse than they already are."

Sai nodded. "Right then, wait here."

With that, Sai darted off toward the Uchiha Compound.

* * *

Tsunade's grim expression forced an air of uncertainty through the Hokage's Office.

"Are you sure about this, Naruto?"

He nodded. "I am. I think it's probably the best course of action for me at this point."

The Hokage stared down at the approval stamp on her desk. "I won't approve this for you unless you take at least four to five days to think about it."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and forced a smile. "Yeah, sorry for making a request like this out of the blue! But don't worry, I've still got some things to get sorted out before I can even consider moving forward with it…"

Tsunade noticed the crease on his forehead that belied his cheery exterior. "Naruto. Stop that."

The fake smile slowly subsided, shifting to a more neutral expression. "Sorry, it's a bad habit. I've been meaning to kick it, but at times like this… I find it comforting in some kinda twisted way."

"Don't hide your feelings, otherwise they'll fester… I would know."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah… Ero-Sannin is… also part of the reason I want t-"

Tsunade put her hand up. "No more talk of this. Not until you've had time to think it over, this isn't a decision to be made on a whim."

"Alright… I'll wait until after the celebration, maybe I'll know for sure by then."

Naruto turned and left the office and hopped out of a window in the hallway. Channeling chakra into his palm, he slid down the tower's walls and leapt to the nearest building. He landed, rolled and exploded upwards into the air… and the direction he was moving? Well, it appeared that he was headed toward the Uchiha compound…

* * *

"That does sound like something Naruto would've done back then. Besides, I think I'd remember if something like that happened."

Sai shuffled. "So you _**didn't**_ compliment Sakura? She seems quite set on that particular point."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. To be honest, at that particular moment, _**very**_ few of my thoughts concerning Sakura were flattering. She made an… _ill-conceived_ comment concerning Naruto's orphan-hood and by extension… _**mine**_ … I took offense."

"Hm, I see."

"Why exactly do you care, Sai? The early days of Team 7 are nothing to be jealous of. We were about as dysfunctional as you could get."

Sai looked off to the side. "Sorry to be deceptive, but Sakura was the one that put me up to this."

Sasuke raised his eyebrow. "Sakura? She couldn't have asked me herself?"

"Sadly, no… As of today, your team-dynamics have become… precarious in nature. Yesterday, Naruto confessed his feelings to Sakura and she rejected them… at least that's what she's led me to believe."

Sasuke's brow furrowed. "… How is he?"

"I haven't seen him for some time, today is the first I'm hearing about all of this actually."

There was a long pause as Sasuke stared out the window. "Should we… _talk_ … to him about it?"

Sai smiled, awkwardly. "Sasuke-san, I don't believe that we're… emotionally equipped to deal with matters like this."

The last Uchiha sighed. "… You're probably right."

Just then, a wolf-whistle echoed through the streets of the empty compound. Only Naruto had the audacity would make such a noise racket outside the final resting place of the Uchiha Clan.

"Hn. Perhaps he's come to talk to _us_. Follow me Sai."

They leapt from the window and climbed onto the roofs to make their way toward the gate of the compound. Sasuke never really felt bothered to unlock the security seals installed in the gates and outer walls, it kept out most critters, and cut down on unnecessary visitors… Two things that Sasuke couldn't be bothered with…

After a final chakra-enhanced leap, Sasuke skidded in the dirt road directly behind the gate, with Sai close behind. After coming to a stop they walked over to the Uchiha Compound's entrance. Naruto stood there, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Hey man, when're you gonna unlock the security seals on this damn gate? It's really annoying that I have to wait for you to come all the way over here just to come in… oh, hey Sai! What're you doing here?"

The palest of the young men replied. "I'm here to speak with Sasuke concerning matters of the heart."

Naruto's expression was neutral, if not a bit slack-jawed from confusion.

"… Sasuke's not gay Sai."

"No, I don't believe so... Coincidentally, our conversation concerns you as well."

The blonde's expression became even more confused. "Why would I wanna-? … Sorry, I don't party like that."

Sai's expression remained blank. "I'm confused. Are we talking about the official celebration coming up next week? … and how exactly is sexual orientation related to it?"

Sasuke groaned and placed his hand on the gate for a moment. There was a pause and it creaked open, just enough for Naruto to slip through the opening.

The Uchiha turned and motioned for Naruto to follow. "So you finally told her?"

Naruto grimaced. "Word get out that fast?"

Sasuke glanced at Sai for a moment. "… I have sources. So how'd it go?"

The orange-clad shinobi stopped in his tracks. "Not well… I may have made a mistake..."

There was a tense pause as Sai and Sasuke stared at Naruto, whose gaze was focused on the ground directly in front of him. Sai took the opportunity to return to Sakura with Sasuke's answer.

"Well, I've acquired the information I needed. I've already become more involved in this than I should be, so it's best that I take my leave. Best of luck Naruto, Sasuke."

Sai turned and made his way toward the gate, leaving Naruto and Sasuke standing in the middle of the dirt road.

"So, what happened when you went to see her?"

Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets. "What happened, happened. There's not much to talk about at this point. I actually came here to ask _you_ something."

Sasuke sat on a bench outside an empty storefront. "And what would that be?"

"… How do you let go of something you love?"

Sasuke crossed his arms, having been reminded of his own losses over the course of his journey.

"The hardest thing I ever had to do was move out of this compound after the massacre. Sandaime said that I'd destroy myself clinging to ghosts of the past… he was right. In spite of the painful memories associated with this place, it was the only thing I could cling to. The only remnant of what once was… Ironically, now… I'm trapped here with those ghosts when all I want is to move forward."

Naruto nodded. "So how can I apply that to my situation?"

The last Uchiha paused for a moment.

"Perspective… Distance… And time... Accumulate them, then you'll be able to let go..."

* * *

The following week, Konoha found itself in a state of jubilance. The war had taken its toll on the ninja population of the village, so the Hokage postponed any official celebrations of the war's end until the people of Konoha were done with their various funeral ceremonies.

The party was held in the atrium of Konoha City Hall, with all of the best restaurants in the entire village catering for the event. Sakura wasn't too interested in attending given what had been happening to her over the past few weeks, but she eventually caved after Ino pestered her enough to make an appearance.

There was a smaller party room in the City Hall that Tsunade had reserved for people in her inner circle, along with various foreign dignitaries who happened to be in the village at the time. Naturally, this mean that the party had gradually broken down into various cliques, Sakura and Ino had arrived about 15 minutes late, due in part to Ino's refusal to allow her out of the house without looking her absolute best.

They walked into the private room and were met with a peculiar sight. The were various circles of people chatting, but one group in particular appeared to contain a supermajority of the guests in the room… and off in the corner, she was met with the sight of Sasuke sitting alone at a table off in the corner, he was absentmindedly pushing food around on his plate.

"Huh. I didn't think Sasuke-kun would be here tonight."

Ino, distracted by the large crowd was snapped from her curious thoughts. "Is he? … Oh, there he is. Well, knock yourself out forehead, I gotta see what's going on over there."

Paying the large crowd no mind, Sakura left Ino and made her way toward Sasuke, who didn't seem to notice her approaching. She was about to tap him on the shoulder when his voice startled her.

"Sakura."

She jumped. "O-Oh! I didn't think you noticed me!"

Sasuke looked up at her and stared, his expression blank; there was an awkward pause.

"You can sit down if you want."

Sakura smiled a tiny bit and slid out the chair nearest to the last Uchiha. "Thank you… I… didn't expect to see you here tonight…"

Sasuke stopped playing with his food and smirked over toward the crowd of people on the opposite end of the room.

He almost chuckled… almost. "Hn… Niether did I…"

Sakura smiled a tiny bit, but was unsure how to react to an overtly positive expression of emotion from her (usually brooding) teammate. However, her surprise turned to dread when that all-too-familiar pattern reared its head.

"Naruto convinced me to come here tonight... He means well, but I don't think he understands how everyone else sees me now."

Sakura's expression went grim. "Naruto's here?"

Sasuke nodded and pointed his chopsticks toward the crowd of people on the opposite end of the room.

"He was over here a few minutes ago, but the Daimyo's daughter wanted to meet him. It's probably why that crowd's formed. I bet he's telling them about how he vanquished the _'Crazy Uchiha'_ and saved the world from me."

She frowned at the tablecloth and looked at Sasuke inquisitively. "He says that?"

Sasuke's smirk disappeared. "No, that's what everyone else calls me when they think I'm not listening… You see, it's well known that Naruto and I fought at the end of the war, and that if I'd won… things would be a mess…"

"Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?"

"About as _'alright'_ as anyone could be in my position, but I'll take what I can get… since the alternative was execution."

There was another pause, with Sakura unable to figure out how to brighten Sasuke's demeanor, and it wasn't like she could go get Naruto to come help… That wasn't a good idea… not anymore…

"Sakura."

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Go have fun, you shouldn't feel obligated to keep me company all night… Maybe you can even patch things up with Naruto before he… No… You should hear it from him."

Sakura's shoulders sunk. "So Sai told you the whole story?"

"More or less, though… I'm curious, Sakura. Why **_haven't_** you fallen for Naruto?"

Her posture retreated inward and she looked down into her lap. "I-It's complicated… but I think I have an idea why."

Sasuke, staring absentmindedly at the crowd waited for her to elaborate. That elaboration never came.

"… Well?"

Sakura abruptly stood up from her seat. "I-I'm a touch hungry, I'll be right back."

Sasuke's eyes swiveled toward his teammate; she wouldn't look at him as she awkwardly shuffled around him to go to the buffet table. Once Sakura arrived at her destination, she grabbed a plate, but instead of selecting her dishes, she stared down at the spread of food, frozen in time.

She was snapped from her thoughts by needlessly polite voice. Sai's.

"Avoiding Naruto?"

Sakura looked down at her empty plate. "You're half right... Even Sasuke-kun is questioning my feelings, along with everyone else…

Sai shuffled around Sakura and filled his cup with some punch. "Does that include yourself as well?"

Sakura growled at the insinuation and reflexively clenched her hands, causing her steel tray to groan as it deformed beneath her fingers.

"Shut it, Sai."

The Hokage's apprentice took a few deep breaths to calm her temper. "I'm sorry… Coming here was a mistake, I should just go back home."

Sai took a small step backward. "That's your choice, but I'll be honest with you… I don't think that's a good idea. You'll have to face your situation at some point, Sakura."

Sakura's posture dipped and she dropped the destroyed tray in a nearby garbage can.

"I guess I should follow up with him then..." She whispered.

Sai nodded, straightening his bowtie. "I believe that is the correct course of action. Good luck, Sakura."

The pale shinobi took his plate of food and sat down with some of Shizune's interns who were chatting at a table. This left Sakura alone at the buffet table, she looked over toward Sasuke, who was still staring absentmindedly at his plate, she then looked toward the crowd and moved toward it.

As she approached, she could hear Naruto's voice pierce through the gossiping crowd. He was telling them about the time that he vandalized the Hokage monument, and the crowd was eating it up… especially the Daimyo's daughter, who was firmly latched on to Naruto's arm. Clad in an ornate pink and silver kimono, with chestnut hair and green eyes, she made everyone else within a few feet of her look plain by comparison. He had everyone laughing and carrying on, but in that sea of laughter, Sakura stood… with her grim expression.

As if he had a sixth sense, Naruto appeared to feel her gaze. He turned and locked eyes with Sakura, his smile slowly faded away as they stared at each other. A moment later, Naruto transitioned back into relaying the tale of his greatest prank, with his (fake, she could tell) smile returning to his face.

Sakura sighed and slipped away, returning to sit with Sasuke.

Sasuke popped the remains of a rice ball into his mouth as Sakura sat down.

"Couldn't get a hold of him, could you?"

"No I… I don't know if I should… Naruto's become a lot more popular than I realized, and he seems like he's having a good time. I'm probably the last person he wants to see right now…"

"You haven't picked up on that yet? Apparently, powerful men from all over the world are tossing their daughters at Naruto to see who sticks, our current daimyo included… Just before my probationary meeting, I overheard the Hokage talking about all the letters they get concerning who his fiancé will bee… funny… it used to be me in that position… How times change..."

Sakura felt taken aback by the melancholy in Sasuke's voice. "I see… You know, you're a lot more forthcoming than usual, Sasuke-kun... I appreciate you opening up."

Sasuke shrugged. "It's the least I can do… Besides, I've had a lot of time to think. I sometimes wonder… if I'd known where my path would take me… No. It doesn't matter anymore."

The Uchiha glared at the bottle of sake before jamming the cork back into it, Sakura noticed this and quipped.

"So that was the sake talking?"

He shrugged again. "It tastes terrible, but I suppose it lets me speak my mind more easily…"

Sasuke trailed off, looking toward the entrance to the party-room. There was a long silence before he rose to his feet.

"My curfew's about to hit, so I'm gonna head back before they lengthen my sentence."

Sakura stood up as well. "I can walk back with you… um… if you want."

Sasuke raised his hand in a placating manner. "Thanks, but I'd prefer to be alone with my thoughts tonight… Besides…"

He trailed off, gesturing to the crowd that Naruto was recounting his greatest adventures.

"You should talk to him at the first opportunity. If you don't, you'll regret it… for a long time."

Sasuke gave a small nod and turned to head for the door, leaving Sakura standing by herself at the table. Sasuke was right, it'd be like tearing of a band-aid or pulling teeth, but it needed to happen. That and the ominous nature of Sasuke's language concerning Naruto gave her a newfound sense of urgency, one that outweighed her apprehension toward her blonde teammate.

Sakura sat back down at her table and filtered her hearing to where she could pick up bits and pieces of Naruto's story. From what she could gather, he was talking about the time she had to physically pump his heart just to keep him alive. She too thought back to the moment, considering just how wrong everything could have gone if she hadn't acted as swiftly as she did.

As time ticked on, Sakura looked toward the clock and groaned. The venue wouldn't close for another two hours, meaning that her chance to clear the air with Naruto wouldn't come for a while. She tried to rationalize this as a positive, since she now had time to think about what she'd say. However... as time went on that task began to feel more and more insurmountable.

The next thing she knew the ambient music went silent and the guests were filing out of the party room. Sakura shot out of her seat, looking for Naruto. She couldn't spot him anywhere in the room, so she hiked her kimono up and leapt over the dance-floor, landing at the window. She quickly picked out Naruto among the crowd, he was using henge to get by unnoticed, but she could tell from his distinct gait that it was him.

Sakura ripped the pad lock off of the latch and slid the window open. Sparing no care toward her poor attire for the task, Sakura leapt down to the nearest rooftop. Much like Naruto had done for her days prior, she tailed him until they could talk without making a scene or otherwise embarrassing each other. Naruto walked at a leisurely pace, as if he were taking in his surroundings. He looked nostalgic, if not, slightly remorseful. Curiously, his route wasn't taking him toward his apartment, but nevertheless, Sakura followed him through the streets.

By the time he was truly alone, Naruto was in Konoha Park. He stopped at the lake and stared down at the moon reflecting off of the surface.

"Sakura-chan."

The girl was just close enough to hear his voice, so she stepped out from her hiding spot.

"How'd you know I was-?"

Naruto didn't turn around. "Your perfume. I recognize it anywhere."

She appeared skittish, only coming within about ten feet of her teammate. "I… I wanted to talk to you about a few things, Naruto."

Naruto still kept his attention on the water. "I figured as much. I did kind of drop a bunch on you at once… Go ahead."

"I wanted to thank you, for what you said to me that day. Up until that point, I was… extremely self-conscious about my forehead. It truly meant a lot."

Naruto smiled a tiny bit. "I know, back at the academy, everyone used to tease you about it so I figured… I'd compliment it."

Sakura nervously clenched her fist.

"And I'll always be grateful to you for what you said, deception aside... But I've given it some thought and in the months following that day… I came see Sasuke as he was. The pain he suffered, while I couldn't truly understand it… I still realized its hold over his life. I hoped that one day, he could let go of his hatred and maybe find happiness, but he can't. He's surrounded by people here in Konoha, but he seems so beaten-down… lonely. If I can ease his pain, even just a little, then It's what I have to do. Naruto… I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm just… stuck. I love him, and I won't string you on knowing that I can't give you the kind of affection that you deserve. I… for all intents and purposes… I _should_ love you... I _do_ love you, but just… not like that… I… I'm sorry…"

Sakura trailed off, waiting for Naruto to respond. His gaze still appeared to be locked on the moon's reflection in the water. There was a short pause before he finally replied, though it wasn't what Sakura expected to hear.

"I know. Is that all?"

There was a pause, but no follow-up to Naruto's terse response came. His tone was succinct and neutral, as if he didn't care.

Sakura took this as a cue that Naruto was angry with her. "I… I see. I'll… I'll leave you be."

Naruto picked up on the pain in her voice. "Don't go if you still have more to say, leave it all on the table."

She stopped walking away and shuffled closer to Naruto than she had been previously.

"W-Well, I have one more thing to ask of you, but now's not really appropriate... given what I've said..."

Naruto appeared to tense up for a moment when she'd said that, and there was a long pause, with Sakura waiting for his spoke, but again it was not what she expected to hear.

"I'm afraid we can't… not for a while, Sakura-chan..."

Sakura sputtered, and choked on her words, obviously worried about his answer. "B-But you haven't even heard what I'm going to ask!"

Naruto turned and looked at her, his expression was a mixture of pensive melancholy; it stopped Sakura in her tracks.

"Sakura-chan… In some ways, I know you better than you know yourself… But, ask your question anyway..."

Her shoulders dipped. "I… wanted to know if we could still be… friends… You're just… really important to me and I don't want something if it's going to cost me your friendship…"

Naruto nodded, giving Sakura a jolt of hope, but it all came crashing down the moment he spoke.

"I was right then… I'm sorry, Sakura-chan… We'll always be friends … but I… need some time."

She started to shake with anguish. "N-Naruto? Wh-What're you t-trying to say?"

"Sakura-chan… I… I think it'd be for the best if we… didn't see each other for a while…"

Sakura's eyes immediately filled with tears. "N-no… I… Oh Gods… W-wait, let me-… I d-didn't mean for it to… I'm always hurting you and I-! … I j-just… Please don't leave me agai-…"

That was a complete thought that she cut herself off on, and that word 'again'… but Naruto had never left her before… not without fully intending to return... However, as far as Sakura was concerned, this was a second unceremonious departure. It finally dawned on him... the irony of it all. Naruto eventually worked up the courage to look at Sakura and saw that she was hunched over, barely standing up. Naruto silently cursed his feelings for the girl before him and walked over to her, pulling her upward by her shoulders, so that he could see her face.

He took one of the orange ribbons tying his sleeve to his wrist and weaved it into a temporary handkerchief. He nudged Sakura's head upward so that he could wipe her eyes. As her vision cleared, she could once more see the expression on his face. It was a wounded look of longing. Once Naruto had stopped her mascara from running, he pulled her in firmly and kissed her on the forehead. Sakura inhaled sharply at the warmth of his lips and the reassurance of his embrace, and for an instant, the pain was gone-as if it were never there to begin with. Her heart started to race, and she felt powerless beneath the pressure of his arms, but in that helplessness, she found a sense of belonging. In no time at all, Sakura shut her eyes and gave in, burying her head into Naruto's chest.

For a moment, everything was right in the world, but only for a moment…

Sakura looked upward into Naruto's eyes, and Naruto stared back, his eyes were hopeful, but as they stared at each other, the hope in Naruto's eyes faded into nothingness. Sakura could feel his grip on her loosen, and before she could say anything, Naruto was gone… in the time it took her to blink.

He disappeared so quickly that she could still feel the warmth of his arms… like a phantom pain. Looking down at her wrist, she could see that at some point, Naruto had tied the ribbon in a loose knot. She stared down at it, and slowly, but surely, she could feel the gradual return of the raw, soul-piercing dread that had overtaken her just moments ago. She tried to wipe her eyes with the ribbon, but it was no replacement for Naruto's embrace.

The tears came full force and she howled in pain as she clutched her heart and wailed into the night. Sakura could feel her knees buckle and she stumbled over to the all-too-familiar park bench that she'd awakened on all those years ago. She fell before she could make it and instead of sitting down, she merely rested her head on the seat.

For the first time in five years… Sakura cried herself to sleep.

* * *

It had been over a week since Sakura had last seen Naruto, so when she received a summon for Team 7 to convene at the tower, she was a bit apprehensive to say the least.

Equal parts dreading the thought of seeing Naruto again, but also hoping she could apologize for losing her cool; Sakura was in a conflicted state of limbo. However, given that they were still part of Team 7, they could patch things up while she was thinking clearly. Putting her ninja-gear on, Sakura left her house and made a beeline for the Tower. She arrived in the lobby without even greeting the receptionist and made her way toward the elevator. She tapped the up button rapidly, increasing her frequency, as she grew more and more impatient.

Impatience turned to frustration and Sakura's final press had completely caved in the entire panel, causing it to spark with electricity. She growled and tore up the stairs, nearly trampling several interns on the way to the Hokage's office. When she finally arrived at the door, she swung it open, tearing two of the three hinges out of the wall.

This startled the Hokage, who was currently filing a report. She looked up at her disheveled student and growled.

"Restraint, Sakura. Use it or you'll hurt somebody."

Completely ignoring the Hokage, Sakura looked around the room and sighed, she was the only one there besides the Hokage, so she figured that she was early. Nearly ten minutes of silence had passed with no new arrivals, prompting Sakura to inquire as to what was wrong.

"Tsunade-sensei?"

"Yes, dear?"

She looked around the room once more. "Where is everyone?"

The Hokage sighed and put down her pen. "Kakashi and Sai were more than enough to handle this errand. Just diplomatic business really…"

Sakura placed her hands on her hips. "Then why didn't you say that earlier? D-Did you call Naruto here as well?"

The Hokage's demeanor shifted and the room suddenly felt cold.

"I was waiting for you to calm down… and no, I didn't summon Naruto, I summoned you."

Sakura took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Tsunade-sensei, but I can't do this right now. I _really_ need to see Naruto right now. Something... odd happened between us and I need to see him ASAP."

The Hokage stared at Sakura for a few seconds, completely silent. "That little fool… Of course he didn't tell you..."

"Tell me what? … Tsunade-sensei?"

"Sakura… sit down."

The girl mussed her hair and growled, her tone uncharacteristic. "I. Don't. Want. To. Where's Naruto?"

Tsunade shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "… He went on personal leave to Mount Myoboku."

Sakura's demeanor shifted. "Oh. Alright then! When will he be back?"

The Hokage spun her chair to look out the window, there was a long pause, which started to worry the young kunoichi.

"The trek to Myoboku takes six months, Sakura."

Sakura tried to twist the Hokage's words to imply something more palatable. "… S-So he'll be back in a few months then? H-he won't be gone… that long?"

" _No, my dear… I'm sorry but… **Naruto won't be back for two years.** "_

* * *

AN: Well that was painful to write, but no pain no gain. Anyway, leave a review and tell me what you think. Should Naruto leave a sealed letter for Sakura, or do you think he's said enough? Also, let me know if you think I'm writing Sakura in a (not necessarily likeable) logical way. I want this to feel as canon-compliant as possible, and by that I mean that I want everything to feel like a logical course of action for each given character (I'm saving the balls-to-the-wall insane stuff for Orange Flash). Gimme your thoughts.

~ Twisted Takes


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